March 31 – The Eurovision Song Contest, the biggest music festival in the world, takes place for the first time in a country outside Europe – Israel. The show is broadcast live from Jerusalem to Europe and a few countries in Asia. The big winner of this night is Israel for the second time in a row. The winning song is "Hallelujah" sung by Gali Atari and the backing group Milk and Honey. A few months after winning the song had been translated into more than 82 languages, and broke a new record by entering the Guinness Book of Records as the most translated song in the world.

July 12 – "Disco Demolition Night", an anti-disco promotional event for a Chicago rock station involving exploding disco records with a bomb, causes a near-riot between games during a baseball major league doubleheader, forcing the cancellation of the second game.

August 25 – "My Sharona" by The Knack hits #1 on the Billboard charts. This is the first time in over a year that a song hits #1 that is not either a disco song or a ballad, signalling the potential resurgence of rock.

Disco reigns supreme in 1979, with several #1 hits from The Bee Gees and Donna Summer that year. Several artists who were not regarded as dance/disco acts, scored major successes by releasing disco singles, including new wave band Blondie with their first US number one single "Heart of Glass", Rod Stewart with "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" and rock band Electric Light Orchestra go disco this year with their UK #1 LP Discovery. Country star Kenny Rogers also issues a disco influenced album, entitled Kenny. Hard rock band Kiss also has a disco hit this year with "I Was Made For Lovin You".

Elton John reunites with lyricist Bernie Taupin after a three-year break. The duos recent songs are recorded in August 1979, to be released a year later on "21 at 33".